Bets are off for Gambino gambling ring

Michael P. Mayko

Updated 12:45 am, Friday, March 15, 2013

HARTFORD -- All bets are off on the future of the Gambino crime family's Fairfield County operation as three more associates pleaded guilty to charges stemming from their multimillion gambling operation, which included a Costa Rica-based Internet betting website and three all-night poker houses.

Thomas Uva IV and John Colello, both of Stamford, and John Liquori, of North Haven, folded just a month before jury selection, leaving a dozen players still in the game. Those include Dean DePreta, the man federal prosecutors claim heads the Gambinos' Fairfield County operation, and his longtime friend and business partner, Richard Uva, of Trumbull, still headed to trial. DePreta and Uva own and operate Westover Pizza in Stamford.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Harold Chen said Uva and Liquori, both 43, face possible prison terms ranging from 21 to 27 months in prison and a $50,000 fine when sentenced.

Additionally, Chen is seeking forfeiture of $100,000 from Uva and $60,000 from Liquori.

Colello faces a sentence of up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $20,000.

The three men are free on bond pending sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled.

On June 12, 2012, federal agents pulled the wraps off an undercover operation, arresting 20 area men in connection with the gambling operation and another five on federal cocaine trafficking charges. The FBI investigation included the help of Nicholas "Nicky Skins" Stefanelli, a Gambino soldier who for two years wore a recording device after being arrested for drug dealing.

However, he killed himself on Feb. 26, 2012, shortly after murdering the man he believed set him up.

Chen has FBI surveillance photos of DePreta with Stefanelli and also with Mario Antonicelli, another reputed Gambino soldier.

The local gambling operation involved two Internet websites and three all-night card parlors -- two in Stamford and one in Hamden, as well as an army of street-level bookies. The bookmakers were required to pay a percentage of their take to stay in operation.

One of the websites -- www.44wager -- took in $1.7 million in bets in an eight-month period, according to the FBI.

Liquori was involved in supervising the Hamden gambling house and the New Haven-based bookmaking operation, which included at least 70 bookies, according to court documents.

Chen has said there was friction between the Gambino and Genovese operations in New Haven, which included vandalism by both sides on the opposition houses.